Conroy Skymonster

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The Conroy Skymonster (CL-44-0) is a very large cargo aircraft. It was designed by Jack Conroy to meet demands for an aircraft that could be used to ferry three Rolls-Royce RB.211 jet engines from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Palmdale, California. The engines were intended for the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar Airliner. ^[1]

1 Design
2 History
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Design

The Skymonster is based on the Canadair CL-44 freighter (itself a derivative of the Bristol Britannia), and features an enlarged fuselage, like the Mini Guppy which was produced by Jack Conroy's previous company, Aero Spacelines.

[edit] History

The Skymonster first flew on the 26th November 1969, under the US registration "N447T". The CL-44 from which it had been converted also bore this same registration, and was previously operated by the Flying Tiger Line. Only one was built. Another one was ordered, but the CL-44 on which it was to be based crashed before delivery. In 1970, it was leased by Transmeridian Air Cargo, who gave it the name "Skymonster". Despite it being renamed "Bahamas Trader" later on, the name Skymonster stuck, and it is now commonly known as this.

In 1978, it was bought by British Cargo Airlines, and in 1982, it went to Heavylift Cargo, who re-registered it with the Irish registration EI-BND. The aircraft went into storage in 1993, but only 2 months later, it had been bought by a leasing company, and was leased to Buffalo Airways. Its next lease was to Azerbaijan Airlines in 1997, under the registration 4K-GUP. In March 1998, it was leased to Baku Express, but in August, it went to First International Airlines and was registered 9G-LCA. In 1999, it was placed into storage, initially in the USA, but then it was flown to Bournemouth Airport, UK, where it was scheduled to be scrapped. A museum in Germany then expressed an interest in taking on the aircraft.^[2]. In December 2006 the aircraft was registered in the Philippines (RP-C8023) and was being prepared for service in Australia.^[3]